matt’s music blog

I really like this song. And one of th things that I like a lot about it, is I have nearly no idea what it’s about. Okay, that not totally true. I mean, as far as I can tell, it’s mostly just a bunch of verses about what this guy wants to do. Shall we get into it then?

It starts off with a solid bass line, a little bit of reverb-y guitar, and hand claps. Also a little bit of synth on the top, and some shaker. Then, the first verse. Now before I get into the lyrics of the first verse, one of the things that I really like about this song is that there ISNT a chorus, it’s really just the verse part repeated over, separated by a little bridge part.

I want to go up to Detroit
I want to lie in the shade
I want to visit the president
And then I want to get laid

Then, right on cue and perfectly timed, enter the drums!

I want to go down to Memphis
I want to talk to the king
I want to tell him we’re sorry
And it won’t happen again

What does that mean? Is he going to tell Elvis that… he’s sorry that he died maybe? I have no idea, but it’s a really cool line regardless. A little bit of lead synth, and then back to the verses. Notice, we’ve also added an acoustic guitar strum to the beginning of each phrase. And, possibly my favorite part, the amazing call and response singing.

I’ve got a photo of James Joyce
It’s a photo by Man Roy
It’s not very very much like him
But it’s not for me to say

Who’s Man Roy? That’s what I want to know. I used to think he was saying “memory” A quick jump on on wikipedia reveals… Nothing! Who is this mysterious Man Roy? Why did he take a photo of Jame Joyce? We may never know! But on to the next verse.

She sacrifices her body
Almost every night
Just like a lamb to the slaughter
And she thinks it makes him feel right

Bridge, then lead synth, with the addition of some little saxophone hits.

You gave me so many problems
You made me crash in my car
I’ll have a martini cocktail
And then we’ll see where we are

So just be nice to your brother
I’ll take your sister to bed
And I can bloc bloc bloc till the weekend
But you’d better come back soon

“I take your sister to bed!” Ahhhhh. So great! What exactly does bloc bloc bloc, mean? Once again, I have no idea. I really think it’s a song in the Bob Dylan style. Verses that are really just cryptic descriptions of things, instead of being a coherent story line. But instead of being kitschy, it’s well implemented. And kinda silly. But good. I would strongly suggest checking out the rest of this album, as it is similarly good.

-James Out

Stephin Marit, in a lot of ways, is the appitomy of singer song writer to me. Being the key creative influance, and songwriter for all of the Magnetic Fields is really only one feather in his cap. And, listening to his music, it makes perfect sense that he and Daniel Handler are such good friends. If I could make a small comparison, Stephin Marit does for music, what Daniel Handler does for books, and writing. Makes them amazing.

What I like a lot about this album is that it’s totally not a 90’s album. Not in the least. In fact, if I hadn’t just looked at when it was released on wikipedia, I would have thought that it came out sometime in the 2000’s. Imagine if you handed Stephin Marit an old synthesizer, and said, “Okay, I want you to make an album,” And then let him go wild. That would be this album.

It starts off with a little intro bit, that sounds like a castlevania riff to me, and we get right into it. Distorted guitar, backed by syth drums, hand claps, and that same keyboard part. A really solid backing part, all tied together by Stephin Marit’s unique singing voice.

Sad as a painted clown, a beautiful boy in an ugly town
but when your circus closes down don’t walk away from me
you’ve been asleep too long, the birds are bruises in the dawn
the pounds of flesh between us stretch as far as you can see

Dramatic pause and Chorus time! Back by a little backing vocals.

But all you ever do is walk away and I know if you’d only go slow you could see what it means to be making the scene with me

But all you ever do is walk away and I think if you tried
you could find a little time
for the life I can see in your eyes, don’t go. Don’t go.

The song continues in a similar fashion as before, as we move on to the second verse

Sometimes you just explode and no one alive can break your code
You have a language of your own, an unconnected road
The people you called your friends, the places you won’t go again
The decades lost in finding them, you’ll have to let them go.

Then we get another chorus, repeated until the end. All in all, a simple little song, but very enjoyable. I especially like the strange and image invoking lyrics. As always, I would strongly encourage you to check out the rest of The Magnetic Fields’ work. Especially the concept album, 69 love songs. Which is, as you might imagine, 69 songs about love, in one way or another.

-James out!

Sorry it’s taken me so long to get around to this other post. So this is my favorite song off of the Passion Pit EP, Chunk of Change, that was mentioned in the previous post.

I think you’ll notice right off, that this song is a little bit more… low-fi, shall we say. Not as polished as Little Secrets. It starts out with a strange little voice clip and we are taken right into the song. Syth guitar and pads back up the song, as we get the chorus

you’re gonna drive me crazy
you’re gonna drive me mad
you got an angel on your shoulder
makin hairpins outta glass

The backing track drops back a little, there’s a cool little breakdown, then we get the verse.

i believe in believing
the things that we don’t see
and the skin violin is where the neighbors wont read meals
and the family heirloom jewelery
with sets and heaps of thieves
will cast down things
that you’ve never even seen

Suddenly the song starts building in intensity, adding a little bit of harpsichord in the background. Keep an ear out for the doubled ‘oh no’ in this part too.

ike the gods
like the glory like the stories
that your fathers set before you
ride the tiger round the kingdom
oh no (oh no)
oh no there’s a meeting in the canyons
oh no! (oh no) this is rising to the clouds

Very nicely exicuted Passion Pit. I can just imagine them members punching the air at every “oh no!” I know that I do. The chorus comes back with a little bit of electric guitar to accent it, and move directly into the next verse.

i’m shooting off the cannons
of the clouds begin to flow
and the baskets weave with your mother’s teeth but the ones we’ll never keep
just pretend that things are mobile and will never stay put
and the way we were the day we climbed to the top of the
steeple with its people spewing angels out their mouths and letting tables turn to charcoal in the lipstick and the lipstick in the evening(oh no)
oh no we were waving like the trees
oh no then they moved us to the sky

I really only take time to show you all of the lyrics, because I think they are really genious, and again, kinda easy to miss, if you don’t actually look at them. Anyway, on to the bridge. We get a little zilaphone part, and the drums back off a bit.

two or three times the bell will ring but when when we look for the better things we search for this we have not build i feel it crash upon your skin

The the drums start to come back in, and we get building hand claps,

i find it hard to believe there more
of these things behind the door
do you miss me like i miss you
do i miss you like you miss me

Then we’re thrown back into the chorus and secondary chorus for a few more times. Then it kinda fades away with a little organ part and wailing guitar.

All in all I think this is a fantastic song. It’s upbeat happy feeling, plus good us of synth, and shouting chorus parts, combined with really cool lyrics, makes it a definite winner. Anyone who enjoyed this one, I encourage you to check out the EP, and their album too (Manners)

-James out

I still have mixed feelings about  Passion Pit’s album, versus their EP (Chunk of Change). So in an attempt to better explain my conundrum, I thought that I’d post my favorite song off of each, and let you, the readers, decide.

The first thing you’ll notice as we start off is a upbeat little 80’s intro synth line. Then, as the lyrics start, we get powerful drums, and a little higher synth part. Some pretty cool lyrics, if not a bit cryptic.

When I came down the sun poured into me
I shook em up, the walls came crumbling
my fists kept trembling with these salty wounds
my stolen gold inside the emperors tomb
now baby wait looks like a lovely face
I built this cardboard neighborhoods disgrace
who let it said that you’re my favorite sphere
within the confines of such chemistry

So…. yeah. I’m not really really sure what that all means. But like I said, cool and cryptic. I especially like “I built this cardboard neighborhood in disgrace” and “My fists keep trembling with these salty wounds” But just hold on, my favorite part is coming up. The chorus! Complete with Matt’s favorite musical device. Little children singing!

Let this be our little secret
no one needs to know were feeling
higher and higher and higher
But I feel alive and I feel it in me
up and up I keep on climbing
higher and higher and higher

God. This song really gets better and better as we go. Okay, so now there’s this really nicely exicuted drum break. Syncopated rhythm, if I’m not mistaken, and we get right back into the next verse. Which happens to contain my favorite lyric in this whole song.

My face blew up at such a casual sight
this miracle is of ecstatic fright
they’ll rush above me to oblivion
outlining white sidewalks with halogen

Oh have you ever felt so goddamn strong
how come it takes some people so damn long
he tried to squeeze the lemon juice to rain
the citrus drawing out the seasons stains

“My face blew up at such a causal sight” Holy Fucking Shit. I don’t know if I have the words to tell you how amazing that is. Also, “He tried to squeeze the lemon juice to rain, the citrus drawing out the season’s stains” Is really really good. Then the bridge, gives us some more amazing lyrics.

Watch the basin drain
as your life lines wane
and you cant explain
as your friends complain

You’ve caused all this pain
and you proudly shame
your whole families name

Wait, did they actually say “as your life lines wane?” The answer is yes. Yes they did. And let me tell you, anyone who can use the word ‘wane’ in a song this cool, get’s like… a hundred golden stars from me. We return to the chorus, and that’s about the gist of it.

So lets reveiw what makes this an awesome song:

1. Really good 80’s style synthesizer parts
2. Interesting and cryptic lyrics
3. Intense drum break that leads into the second verse
4. Well placed use of the word ‘wane’
5. Children’s choir backing vocals on the chorus.

Bang! This song starts kicking in with folky guitar strumming and vocal harmonies that are slightly reminiscent of Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young. Driving drums keeps us rolling, and gives a really pleasant  feeling of driving down a long stretch of highway, as the sun rises over the horizon. Or at least, it does for me. Beautiful and poetic, yet cryptic lyrics are the order of the day, as it starts out with the first verse:

Come down from the mountain, you have been gone too long
The spring is upon us, follow my only song
Settle down with me by the fire of my yearning
You should come back home, back on your own now

More wonderful vocal melodies pass by and we get thrown back into another verse.

The world is alive now, in and outside our home
You run through the forest, settle before the sun
Darling, I can barely remember you beside me
You should come back home, back on your own now

Obviously this is a song about a guy, who is missing is lover, and wants to see her again. Then it slows down, and we get a strange bridge, with basic finger picking, a little bit of egg shaker, and minimal backing electric guitar.

And even in the light, when the woman of the woods came by
To give to you the word of the old man
In the morning tide when the sparrow and the seagull fly
And Johnathan and Evelyn get tired

We now move into this sort of strange, almost Metroid-esc guitar bit. Then, driving bass, and BAM! All the sudden, what happened to that other song we were listening to? Did this just change into another song completly, while staying the same song? (if that makes any sense to you) The answer is yes. This song is actually presented to us in two parts. An A,B format, if you will. I have to be totally frank with you at this point. There are few things that give me a bigger musical hard-on, then ability to pull this off. And friends, Fleet Foxes does it flawlessly.

So we finish off with this little lyric:

Lie to me if you will at the top of Beringer Hill
Tell me anything you want, any old lie will do
Call me back to you
Back to you

And we get to listen to the last part repeated, until they end together. All in all, a masterpiece of song writing, if you ask me. The combination of mostly acoustic instruments, earnest male vocal harmonies, gives this song (and the band, as you will find if you choose to pursue them farther) a old world feel that is compelling and amazing.

-James out